He watched her develop a defensive stance without commenting, unwilling to influence her choices in any way. Slowly he circled to her left, attempting to make a full circle around her, all the while running a calculating gaze over her. Silently he ran down a checklist of defenses. Flexibility played a big role in fights and while he firmly believed she should tailor her defenses for each fight, there were a few that he considered essential.
Finally he was in front of her again. "Do I look completely ridiculous?" At this his concentration broke. A lazy chuckle escaped his lips and he grinned. "If it were a beauty contest there would be no winners." Alright, back to business. Her heat was distracting enough. He grew serious again. "Your defenses look good. Something to remember is to try not to get into the habit of using the exact same defenses over and over. Tailor them to your opponent."
What else? "Another option would be to widen your stance." He positioned his paws so that he was standing over them squarely. "It's easier to throw off someone's balance if they're standing like this, but if you widen your stance just a bit," Valen demonstrated by sliding his paws out to the sides by a few inches, "And bend your knees a bit, it'll make you much harder to move." He paused for a beat, then, "Some people think spreading your toes and digging your nails into the ground help too; for balance and traction. Unrelated to balance, but something you should add to your repertoire is tucking your chin. It protects your throat and combined with shoulders forward bunches the skin up on your neck and makes it harder to get a damaging grip. Any questions so far?"
"Talk"Think"You"
NOTE: Valentine has a female striped skunk companion named Lefty. Unless stated otherwise assume she's present.
